The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Helsinki
has a pleasure to invite for
a seminar
organized in the framework of the Jubilee Year of Henryk Sokolnicki (2016)
Poles in Finland during the WWII:
from exile to friendly reception
to be held on
Monday, November 14th, 2016,
from 5.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.
at the Europe Hall (Malminkatu 16, Helsinki)
As it is known at least from the times of Fernand Braudel and the Nouvelle Histoire group, the
history is both about global and local. The big events – as the World War II – concern and
affect whole countries and continents. While the biggest events, battles, fronts and
peacemaking initiatives are familiar to many of us, it is not rare that some small-scale
happenings remain unknown for a long time, risking that their memory will fade forever.
Our seminar aims at present two events and two places in Northern Finland related to the
presence of Poles in Finland during the WWII. The first one is Ruukki where a group of
Polish officers evacuated from the Baltics stayed for one year (1940–41) before further
betaking to Sweden. They were received very friendly by local inhabitants. The second place
is Taivalkoski where several hundreds of Polish workers were employed at the construction
site of the trench railway Hyrynsalmi-Kuusamo in 1942–44. One of the main sources to the
history of construction of the railway are the memories written by a Pole, Józef Molka (Sota
minun muistokseni).
The history of Poles in Ruukki and Taivalkoski is a set of personal histories, formed by
dramatic course of events during the war. At the same time it is a history of friendships or
even love relations; of solidarity between people of different nationalities in distress and of
their interest in the exoticism of the North.
RSVP by Thursday 10th November to: [email protected]
AGENDA OF THE EVENT
17.30
Welcoming words
 H.E. Mr. Przemysław Grudziński
Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Finland
17.35
Trench Railway from Hyrynsalmi to Kuusamo: The Poles on the Trench
Railway
 Ms. Säde Kangasniemi, M. A., Kenttärata guide
18.00
Kenttärata today - Taivalkoski routes
 Ms. Virve Seiteri, Cultural manager, Municipality of Taivalkoski
18.15
Foreign refugee soldiers and local Finnish community. Polish soldiers of the
Ruukki camp as a case of trans-national interaction during the Second
World War
 Mr. Jussi Jalonen, Ph. D., University of Tampere
18.40
The aid provided by the Polish Legation in Helsinki to the officers in Ruukki
in the light of the memories by Henryk Sokolnicki, last ambassador of the
interwar Poland in Finland
 Mr. Piotr Chmiel, Consul of the Republic of Poland in Helsinki
18.45
Discussion
Before the seminar panel light beverages will be served.
During the conference the exhibition Poles in Ruukki. Recovering the memory will be presented. The
exhibition is composed of a number of archival documents regarding the stay of Polish officers in
Ruukki aloginside with letters by Andrzej Bogusławski, one of the officers, and Jacek Ehrenfeicht,
Polish consul in Helsinki in the 1990s, exchanged during the former’s work on a book dedicated to his
time spent in Ruukki.